Chapter 29: The Fallen Redux Pt. 3

“You BRAT! You could have had it all! How DARE you!” Needless to say, Kokabiel was less than pleased with Issei’s choice. But then, he’d known that the Grigori Lord would be from the moment that he made it. Issei just didn’t care. As they trade blows back and forth, a snarl asserts itself on Issei’s face, the red draconic armor encasing his body protecting him from Kokabiel’s Light-based attacks. “I already do have it all, shit stain. And if you think I’m about to let you take ANY of what’s mine away from me… you have another thing coming.” Damn straight. He’s an idiot if he thinks any self-respecting Dragon would ever part with even one iota of our hoard willingly. Ddraig’s mental support comes just as Kokabiel’s eyes widen in understanding, something alighting in his gaze before he grins quite wickedly. “Oh-ho? The heiresses then. That’s what turned you against me. Have they already seduced you with their bodies, young dragon? How cute. Perhaps if you cease this pointless assault and beg for mercy now, I’ll even let you fuck them each one last time before I kill them.” Kokabiel’s bravado is not entirely false. As they fly through the air, the battle moving high above the abandoned Church below, Issei can feel it… this Grigori Lord… is beyond him. Or rather, he would be beyond him, if not for a recent change. Kokabiel was strong, of that there was no doubt. As they fight, as they exchange blows, Issei’s armor takes more damage than it has in a long, long time. It’s been quite a while since he had a fight this early. More than once he has to dodge an attack from the Fallen Angel rather than tanking it head on, his honed battle instincts alerting him to the simple fact that he wasn’t durable enough to just endure such a thing unscathed. Perhaps if it was just Issei, perhaps if he didn’t have anyone else to fight for, he might have taken those hits anyways just to see what they felt like. It’d been a long time since he’d been hurt, longer still since he’d been properly challenged. Even his battle in his own mindscape against Ddraig hadn’t been this hard… mostly because Ddraig had represented an insurmountable force until Issei had realized that it was his mind, his rules. From there, that battle had been less of a battle and more of a smackdown. But Lord Kokabiel was neither a pushover, nor an insurmountable force. He was just an enemy, and a considerable one at that. One who wanted to take what was Issei’s, one who wanted to use Issei’s girls as fodder for some war. It did make a boy wonder… if he hadn’t gotten involved with Rias and Sona in the last few months, would he have cared when Kokabiel came a-knocking? If he’d just continued to laze about, sticking with his relatively boring life as the Red Dragon Emperor in Hiding, would he have even been involved in any of this? … Probably not. Issei could admit it, looking back now, he’d been kind of an asshole before all this. And to be fair, he was still a bit of a prick… but his girls loved that about him, didn’t they? “I’m not going to let you touch them, Kokabiel. Not ANY of them.” The Grigori Lord snarls, even as Issei meets him head-on, grabbing the Fallen by the arms and throwing them both into the ground behind the Church. Dirt and rock and earth fly in every possible direction, even as Kokabiel pushes back, his own immense strength allowing him to dislodge Issei temporarily. But… only temporarily. Issei was strong… stronger than he’d ever been before. It was like he’d gotten a power-up without even knowing it, like he’d gone from just being pretty good to fucking on top of the world with the snap of his fingers. And as far as he knew, there was really only one thing that had happened recently for such a power boost to occur. Finally catching on, are you? As Issei rears back a fist covered in a spiked gauntlet and brings it down into Kokabiel’s face, stunning the Grigori Lord for the first time, he speaks back to Ddraig telepathically. This is your doing, isn’t it? Me? What could I have possibly done? Last I checked, my wielder has enslaved me. Turned me into yet another one of his pet concubines. I’m nothing more than a consort to the True Red Dragon Emperor, these days. Kokabiel sputters and writhes beneath Issei, but frankly, the young man is done playing around. His other gauntleted hand comes down on the place between the Grigori Lord’s shoulder and neck and grasps HARD at the Fallen’s collarbone, causing a cry of pain to spill forth from Kokabiel’s lips. In the end, Issei doesn’t need to ask Ddraig any more questions. The answers he seeks can all be found in what she’s already said… and what she’s not saying. Before, Issei had been the bearer of the Boosted Gear, with said Sacred Gear housing Ddraig, the Great Welsh, also known as the Red Dragon Emperor. Now though… well, it was as Ddraig said. He was the True Red Dragon Emperor now. He had usurped that title from Ddraig, for all that the Great Welsh didn’t seem too displeased by her new circumstances. “INSOLENT, WORTHLESS, BRAT! I WILL-GAK!” Another gauntleted fist, this time delivered into Kokabiel’s gut. And then for good measure, Issei does it again and again, and then another time, gratified when the Fallen Angel finally begins to spit up blood. It’s nice to know that Kokabiel can bleed. “You will do nothing. You will harm no one. Kuoh Town and all that inhabits it… belongs to me. The Red Dragon Emperor. And thus is under MY protection.” In spite of the beating Issei has delivered to Kokabiel so far, the Grigori Lord is far from cowed. In fact, he’s still spitting mad, snarling and struggling even as Issei, in his full regalia, continues to hold him down. Not easily though. There’s still strength in this Fallen Angel, strength that Issei wonders at how to curtail. Should he just kill him? Put him down like a rabid dog? “Issei!” In his moment of introspection, Asia’s voice distracts Issei, causing him to whip his head around in shock and displeasure. The girl should have known better than to approach while he was still fighting, especially not with an opponent like Kokabiel. Or maybe it wasn’t Asia’s fault for not knowing, but if it wasn’t her fault, it was CERTAINLY the others’ fault. Of course, when he looks up, it’s to find Raynare, Kalawarner, and Mittelt all right beside Asia as they stare down at the crater he’s made with Kokabiel’s body, all wide-eyed at the sight of him effectively manhandling their Lord. Of course, Kokabiel is far from down for the count… and he capitalizes upon Issei’s moment of distraction immediately, managing to slither out from under the Red Dragon Emperor like the slimy snake he is. With a snarl and a fast flick of his gaze between Issei and the four women, Kokabiel comes to an immediate decision. “Say goodbye to your pets, boy-urk!” Except, even as Kokabiel is lunging for Asia and his own wayward subordinates, Issei is reacting, his protective and possessive instincts allowing him to move even faster than the Grigori Lord in this instance. His hands latch onto Kokabiel’s top set of wings, right at their base, and with a snarl at the thought of this bastard hurting ANY of his women, Issei plants his booted foot in Kokabiel’s back… and pulls. A blood curdling stream from Kokabiel’s lips joins the massive cacophony of blood and ripping as Issei tears the Grigori Lord’s top pair of blackened wings right out of him, maiming him in the process. The boot on his back makes sure that Kokabiel ends up face down in the dirt by the end of it, with Issei pinning him in place and holding the Fallen Angel’s wings aloft in each of his gauntleted hands. With something bordering on contempt, Issei tosses the wings aside and looks down at the pitiful, squirming worm under him. Five pairs of pitch-black wings. That was how many the Grigori Lord started out with. They certainly seemed to convey some level of prestige and power and influence upon him. But frankly, Issei didn’t give a shit. What he cared about was removing Kokabiel’s ability to hurt what was his, completely and utterly. Reaching down, he curls his gauntleted hands around the next pair of wings… and rips those off as well. Once again, Kokabiel screams… and finally, all of his bluster and bravado begins to fade as he starts to beg. “P-Puh-Please… p-please!” His stuttering and stammering brings no joy to Issei’s heart. He’s not truly a sadist, for all that he’ll happily satisfy someone like Akeno’s masochistic tendencies. Kokabiel is a threat that must be removed, an obstacle to the happiness of his harem, and a danger to the safety of his hoard. Needless to say, Issei won’t be letting the Grigori Lord remain one for long. The coherent begging stops as Issei tears out the third pair of wings. Instead, Kokabiel just blubbers and sobs uselessly as the bloody blackened things are discarded on either side of his writhing, maimed body. A glance up at the rim of the crater shows Issei that he’s a bad influence… after all, what else would you call the wide smile on Asia Argento’s face? The fact that the three Fallen women are oscillating between fear and glee, with Raynare leaning more towards fear and Kalawarner leaning more towards glee while Mittelt lands somewhere in the middle… that’s understandable. They probably are sadists, the three of them, and seeing their former superior taken apart quite literally by their new boss is probably both a terrifying experience AND a cathartic one for them. The two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Asia, however… damn it if he hasn’t very clearly screwed Asia up. The sweet young nun he’d met and taken under his protection… just how much of his doings had Ddraig allowed her to see by hiding her from Issei’s senses? Because the way the blonde nun was smiling as Issei dismantled their enemy, piece by piece… it was a little unsettling. Still, that was no reason to not finish what he’d started. Once more, Issei reaches down, this time going for the fourth set of wings. Once more, he rips them off. By now, Kokabiel’s back is a bloody mess and Issei isn’t sure if the Grigori Lord is even still alive. But that doesn’t stop him from tearing off the fifth and final set of wings too, just to be sure. Cruel and possibly overkill? Perhaps, but it would seem Issei just didn’t like it when someone threatened what he considered his. Riser had been… small fry in comparison to this. The boy had thought himself entitled to Rias’ hand in marriage. He’d stopped causing problems after Issei had thoroughly disabused him of that thought. Kokabiel though, Kokabiel would almost certainly be a problem no matter what… unless he was removed from the board entirely. With all five sets of wings torn off, Issei wasn’t even sure if he would survive from here on out anyways. It would almost be a mercy, killing him at this point. And so, he reaches down one last time to finish the job… only to have Kokabiel whisked away out from under his nose at the last second, saved by a flash of figure. Except, even as fast as they are, Issei gets a good look at them as they move through, only his surprise keeping him from catching them before they’re out of his reach. Blinking, the Red Dragon Emperor straightens up and looks to the opposite side of the crater’s edge from where his girls are all still standing. Just as Asia and the female Fallen are starting to register what happened and making noises of shock and surprise, Issei is turning to face this new arrival, taking her in as he does so. And it is most definitely a her. White hair that cascades down to her ass, an hourglass figure complete with a sizable bust and hips that don’t quit under a black jacket. And finally, thicc thighs and legs that never seem to end. She’s a tall, slender, beautiful woman… but more than that, she’s supposedly his arch-nemesis. Albion! Ddraig’s hissing in the back of Issei’s mind only confirms what the young man is already feeling. This right here… this is the woman that holds the Dividing Gear within her soul. Which meant that she was here… on behalf of Lord Azazel? Holding Kokabiel in one hand almost contemptuously, his body limp and weak from the blood loss and maiming, she looks down at him in silence for a long moment. Cocking an eyebrow, Issei curls a gauntlet into a fist. “I have unfinished business with that one.” Sniffing delicately, she looks down her nose at him. “Lord Azazel will likely be grateful for your intervention… but Kokabiel’s punishment will be handled by his peers. Lord Azazel will take it from here.” She was totally one of those cool, confident types wasn’t she? Issei couldn’t deny that he found that sort of thing hot under the right circumstances, and the appearance of this white-haired Ice Queen of a beauty was certainly the right circumstances. Still, he wasn’t entirely sure if he was willing to just… let her take Kokabiel and go. From what Kokabiel had said during his evil villain monologue, Issei could likely count on this Azazel fellow to handle Kokabiel, especially in the state Issei had left him. Imprisonment or execution were almost a certainty. But did Issei really want to leave such a thing to chance? At the same time, did he have a choice? He might not know WHO this woman before him was, but he knew WHAT she was. And after fighting Kokabiel as he had, he wasn’t at full power anymore. Did he really want to take on his supposed Arch-Nemesis at anything but his best, while also having to protect Asia and the others, when she was clearly not currently aggressive or hostile? There were still Rias and Sona to consider as well. He had yet to inform them both of what was going on… and had instead caused quite a ruckus here at the abandoned Church while taking down Kokabiel. The two heiresses might show up at any moment, further complicating any potential fight he might engage in with the bearer of the Dividing Gear. Growling under his breath, Issei considers his options and plots out his next move.